


Tomorrow, It Could Be Any of Us

by Lhugy_for_short



Series: Lhugy's Giveaway [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: But all turns to fluff by the end, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, implied ot4 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 23:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12970785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lhugy_for_short/pseuds/Lhugy_for_short
Summary: After a terrifyingly close call during a hunt, Noct's closest pals consider just what it means to be in the service of their prince.





	Tomorrow, It Could Be Any of Us

**Author's Note:**

> (After an embarrassingly long delay) Finally! The second-to-last prize for my Fic Giveaway - this one is for Cinnamontoasten on Tumblr, who wanted to see the bros taking care of their injured prince. Light OT4 implied here, and of course a lil' bit of Promptio/Ignoct topping because...well. I'm trash. 
> 
> Hope you like it!

_“Nooooct!”_

Prompto’s terrified cry rang out across the field, reverberated like the deafening boom of thunder between the walls of the chasm. It was enough to snap Gladio out of his confusion in an instant.

Ahead of him, Ignis was already running. The brunette dodged attack after attack, twisting his way through the barrage of needles in his panic to get to Noctis. He jumped a boulder, kicked one of the cactuars in its haunting husk of a face, and used it as leverage to propel himself forward. By the time Gladio finished hacking and slashing his way after him, Iggy was already kneeling at his prince’s side.

They worked as a perfect team. Gladio swung his broadsword like a madman in a defensive circle around them. Prompto fired off well-aimed shots at the stragglers. And Ignis put his trust in them while he set to work himself. From his pouch he withdrew one of the precious life-giving feathers, felt it burn and pulse in his hand with an unearthly heat, and prayed to the Astrals that they weren’t too late.

The Phoenix Down touched Noct’s skin and instantly he was surrounded with fiery light. Ignis couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move while he waited for the magic to take hold. Seconds turned to minutes turned to hours in his mind, but then - _yes!_ Noctis’ lips quivered and he gasped aloud.

Then Ignis was lifting him up, straining to balance his weight without putting pressure on the wound at his side.

“...Specs?”

“We have to get him out of here!” Ignis shouted to the others. They would have to retreat, to pull back to the car where he could better tend to Noct’s injuries. It would be fine. He wouldn’t cry.

Behind him, Gladio and Prompto got the message. While the gunslinger bought them time to escape, Gladio dismissed his sword in a flurry of blue sparks and raced to Iggy’s side. “Let me carry him.”

“I’ve got him just fi -- “

“You need to drive. Hand him over.”

Between them, Noct was looking pale, confused, his eyes failing to focus on either of his friends for long. “What’re y’guys talkin’ ‘bout…? ‘m fine….”

“Easy there, Princess.” Gladio’s face held none of its usual mirth as he accepted Noct’s blood-soaked form into his arms. “We’re gonna take good care of you.”

Noct smiled as everything went black.

* * *

_Motion. A gentle rocking rhythm, almost soothing but for the dull ache in his side. And voices. Low, familiar. Distant and yet somehow so near…._

It was growing dark when Noctis finally managed to open his eyes. They slowly adjusted to his surroundings enough to tell him that he was in the Regalia, laying across the backseat with his head on something soft and staring up at a sea of stars. Instinctively, he made to right himself out of the prone position, but a sharp pain in his stomach had him immediately regretting the decision.

Above him, a low gasp. “Noct? Hey guys, I think he’s awake!” Prompto’s hands - hesitant, gentle hands he would have recognized anywhere - were suddenly touching his face, smoothing away the tension there. “You probably shouldn’t move for a while, buddy.”

“Yeah,” Noct groaned through his teeth. “Figured that out.”

“How’s the head?” Over the back of the passenger seat, Gladio had his arms draped on either side of the headrest and his gaze locked on Noctis.

“Been better. What happened? Did I get hit by a truck?”

“Hardly.” Green eyes were watching him from the rear view mirror. “To think our future king was nearly done in by a dancing cactus.” Ignis’ words were mocking, but there was a relief there that Noctis couldn’t have missed if he’d tried.

Slowly, it came back to him: the Crow’s Nest diner on the side of the road, the high-bounty Hunt they’d heard about from the locals. Then driving out to find their marks, Ignis going over the plan and handing them all protective bands and amulets. Together, they had rushed into the cactuars’ nest and then --

Noct groaned. He couldn’t remember anything after that except flashing colors and pain.

“Sorry,” he said at last, voice so quiet even Prompto had trouble hearing him. “I messed up.”

“...Buddy?”

“Hey, Noct, woah. None of this is your fault.” He felt rather than saw Gladio reach over the back of the seat to take his hand in his, to squeeze his fingers tight around his palm. “Protecting you is supposed to be my job.”

“Mine, too,” Prompto agreed. His hand closed over Gladio’s as he spoke, his fingertips brushing Noct’s wrist.

From the front seat, Ignis’ eyes flicked back and forth between the road ahead of them and the three in the back. “It’s my job, as well, Noctis. If anyone failed today, it was us.”

The prince tried, he really did. He tried to tell them how wrong they were, how they were hardly his babysitters and how he should be expected to take care of himself. How he needed to be stronger, because no one wanted a king who couldn’t even protect his closest friends. Noct tried to tell them, but his body gave out before he could form more than a few words. Slumping uselessly against Prompto, he let his eyes drift closed as the steady rocking of the Regalia carried him away.

* * *

It was a cheap hotel, but it was the best they could do given the circumstances. Gladio and Ignis carried Noctis inside, while Prompto was left with the rest of their baggage. Not that he minded, of course. He knew he had to be useful where he could.

No one had said it in the car, but Prompto knew what the others had to be thinking: that it was _his_ fault Noctis had gotten hurt. That he, who had barely finished what amounted to a crash-course in self-defense before leaving the Crown City, should have reloaded faster. That while he was fumbling for his bullets, Noct had jumped in to cover his six. That _his_ incompetence had almost cost them their prince.

But while they all knew it, Ignis had been kind enough to spare him the lecture. The worst of it would probably come later, and from Gladio. Which, to be honest, was fine with him - so long as Noct was safe.

He struggled to carry all their duffle bags at once, eager to finish in one quick trip and join the others at Noct’s side. By the time he managed to shuffle into the hotel room and dump everything onto the unoccupied bed, Ignis already had Noct cradled in his arms atop the mattress of the other. His shirt had been removed, along with his pants and the gauntlet he usually wore on his left hand, leaving him stripped to his boxers and hissing while Gladio poked at his side.

“Hm, got anymore of those elixirs, Iggy?”

“There may be one in my bag, but - Prompto.” At the sound of his name, the gunslinger froze. “Take a look for me, would you? Side pocket, yes, that’s the one.”

Prompto dug through carefully, turning over each of the glass vials his fingers landed on. _Antidote, potion, ether…._ “Sorry, looks like we’re fresh out.”

“Damn.” Leaning in for a closer look at the angry red gash - running in a jagged, scabbed line from the side of Noct’s ribcage to his naval - Gladio shook his head and sighed. “He’s not bleeding anymore, but this isn’t gonna heal properly without some help. I saw a shop back outside the diner. If we’re lucky they’ll have some in stock.”

“Let me go.” All three of the others, Noct included, turned their attention to Prompto, who somehow managed to hold his chin up despite how small he suddenly felt. “It’s the least I can do.”

Ignis nodded. Gladio hesitated for a moment, then gave Noct’s knee a pat and stepped away from the bed. “I’ll go, too. Safety in numbers, right?”

Whatever protests Prompto could have made died on his lips when Gladio flashed him a smile, as warm as it was unexpected. A heavy arm fell around his shoulders, and together they turned toward the door and stepped out into the humid night.

* * *

The truck was a mess, barely passable as a roadside stand and reminding Gladio more of a junk heap than a place of business. Still, the woman out front was friendly as she greeted them, and allowed the two to search through her wares piled in the flat-bed without much complaint. It was Prompto, with his sharp eyes and thin wrist, who dug out the elusive elixir first, and Gladio let him hang onto it while he dished out the gil.

Task complete, they started back across the street. For a rare moment, Prompto almost dared to hope that he might make it back to the room without that talking-to he’d expected since the car ride. _Almost_. But then, just beyond the lights of the hotel, Gladio stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Hey,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Before we go back in there, I got somethin’ I wanna say.”

 _Oh, wonderful._ So much for avoiding elephant in the room. Prompto at least found the courage to turn and face the shield head-on before walking into his punishment. “Go ahead, big guy. I know what you’re going to say.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. And I deserve every word of it. So go ahead, lay it all out for me.”

Gladio frowned. “Come again?”

“Dude, just say it!” Dropping his gaze, Prompto felt all of the tension, all of the panic that he’d spent most of the day damming up spill forth at once. “I know you’re thinking it. I’m weak, I’m holding everyone back. Everything that happened today is my fault and a worthless plebe like me should never have come on this stupid -- “

A firm grip on his wrist shut him up fast. Gladio tugged him forward, nearly knocking the elixir out of his hand in the process, until Prompto was flush against his chest and his trembling shoulders were wrapped in strong arms. “Stop,” Gladio said, his voice at once strained and yet with none of it’s usual edge. “Prom, stop. No one blames you.”

Thin fingers dug into fabric and muscle alike as Prompto clung to those broad shoulders. “But --“

“I was gonna thank you. For saving my ass out there today.” When Gladio pulled back at last, just far enough to allow Prompto to breathe again, he was smiling. “I saw Noct go down and I...I lost it. If you hadn’t covered us, we might not have made it out of there at all. You did good today.”

Prompto stared wide-eyed in disbelief. He would have been less shocked if Gladio had outright slapped him. Tears threatened, stinging and painfully familiar, but even they couldn’t fall in the paralysis of shock. It wasn’t until Gladio grinned and reached up to ruffle blond spikes that Prompto even remembered to suck in a breath.

“C’mon, chocobo. Noct’s countin’ on that drink.”

* * *

“Iggy?”

“ _Hm_?”

“I’m sorry.”

Behind his lenses, green eyes flickered for a split second up to regard the face of his prince. Noct’s cheeks were flushed, no doubt a combination of the wound at his side and the powerful magic of the elixir coursing through his blood. Even from next to the bed, where he sat bent over Noct’s body to inspect his progress, Ignis could sense the tension in him ebb and flow with the pain. “What ever are you sorry for?”

The prince started to shrug, then thought better of it. “For making you worry all the time.”

This time Ignis actually stopped in his ministrations to meet Noctis’ gaze. “Highness. You don’t _make me_ do anything,” he smiled, and drew the prince’s hand up to his lips.

The day had been rough on all of them, true, and certainly Noct had experienced the worst of it. But they had survived, and that, more than anything, was what mattered. At last, in the wake of it all, peace had settled over the room: Prompto was curled up on the bed with his face half-buried in the pillow and his fingers laced with Noct’s; Gladio had fallen asleep in the armchair, an unread book still open in his lap above the blanket Ignis had draped over him.

And when the time came for him to call it a night as well, Ignis settled down on Noctis’ other side to soothe him to sleep with gentle fingers in his hair.

He knew, as they all did, that every new day brought new dangers, new battles, new risks. Tomorrow, it could be any one of them at the wrong end of a sword, a claw, or even a cactus. But so long as they had each other, they trusted that another new dawn would always rise - no matter how dark the night.  

 


End file.
